*Disclaimer: The information below is for educational purposes only and should not be substituted as medical instruction. Consult a medical professional or healthcare provider before taking this advice.
Ever wonder where the random symptoms are coming from, and going from doctor to doctor to figure them out is a pain in itself?
From someone who has experienced multiple doctor visits with handfuls of diagnoses or theories to find out that it was all from Lyme disease, today I want to share with those who have Lyme disease what symptoms might be caused by Lyme that a lot of people don't know about.
I was bit by a tick when I was around six or seven years old, and my first symptoms from Lyme were, as we now know as common, body aches, mostly coming from my legs. The doctor told my parents that I was going through growing pains, and we were convinced because I grew early as a child. It was actually one of the first noticeable symptoms of Lyme disease, which were unknown at the time.
Ever since then, I went to doctors for headaches, fatigue, and the other common symptoms of early Lyme disease, but there have been dozens of other symptoms that are hard to detect Lyme from since.
Random, tight pains in your chest and rib cage
If you've ever experienced scary, random, sharp, or tight pains in any location around your chest, then this could be a symptom of Lyme, one of which my Lyme doctor pointed out around a year or two ago.
These pains can scare anyone, and the thought of researching unknown chest pains can frighten anyone. These pains mostly happened on the sides of my chest, around my ribs. Some pains would happen directly under my chest or on the sides of my chest, and others occasionally around my under arms. Sometimes it would be a sharp pain, other times it would be a rapid squeezing pain.
He not only found out that it came from Lyme, but that certain foods had been causing the pains. I took a test and found out that bananas were the main cause at the time of Lyme causing my chest pains.
My best remedy for you if you have Lyme and/or a co-infection from Lyme and notice these pains is to find out what in your diet might be causing this and try to cut out foods you eat frequently. It could be the most random food; for me, it's been bananas, chicken, chocolate, and of course, sugar.
Some benefits for this symptom include eating a lot of vegetables throughout your week and consuming less sugar, especially in drinks. If you absolutely need sugar, I found that eating sugar wasn't as harmful as drinking things with large amounts of sugar. If you like energy drinks, popular sodas, or even performance drinks, any of these could be the culprit for this symptom and other symptoms from Lyme.
(If you'd like more information on how to diet well with Lyme, you can click the link here to another one of my posts on Lyme.)
Short-term memory loss
Since Lyme affects every area of the body, memory loss has been a symptom that I've struggled with for a while. For me, it's been forgetting little tasks, what someone says to me, and why I walked into a room. Everyone forgets small things like this, but with Lyme it can be way more frequent than someone without Lyme and persists for longer than normal. Struggling to learn at a normal speed, remembering people's names, and studying can all be tedious with Lyme.
Doing fast-paced, higher stress activities can cause a Lyme flare up in people, causing even more symptoms than memory loss.
I've never forgotten huge points in my life or had long-term memory loss with Lyme, but I've forgotten a lot of small things that make me feel embarrassed. My doctor pointed out short-term memory loss as a strange but common symptom of Lyme disease as well.
For this symptom, my best encouragement for you if you have Lyme is to lower your sugar and gluten intake, or, if you can, cut them out of your diet. With Lyme, the hard part is getting rid of foods that we like, but even taking 100 days away from food and then slowly bringing it back in can work in becoming healthier and stronger.
With Lyme, the good thing is that if you have to cut out certain foods out of your diet now, that doesn't mean that you'll have to forever unless your reactions are critical and require emergency care.
I noticed that when I didn't consume as much bread, especially white bread, and cut out sodas with lots of sugar and caffeine my brain could function better day to day. This might surprise you in how fast you might see results.
Headaches and fatigue from fragrance, hygiene, and skincare products
If you have Lyme, then you know that headaches are a symptom most likely, but there can be dozens of reasons why Lyme is giving you a headache.
One of the reasons is the heightened sensitivity to a lot of ingredients in your hair, skin, and air care products. Basically, if you have chronic Lyme and aren't noticing any improvements in your symptoms, anything that has fragrance alone in it could be flaring up some of your symptoms.
When Lyme was at its worst for me, I physically couldn't walk in a Bath and Body Works store, or else I would feel a headache within minutes. Things like candles, haircare, lotions, skincare, toothpaste, makeup, and perfume are all culprits of flaring up Lyme symptoms if not completely organic. Personally, I don't use skin makeup anymore and use an organic lip balm, purchase fluoride-free toothpaste, limit candle use to every once in a while, (using a soy-based candle) and cut out perfume completely. I also don't use lotion a lot but when I do I use Hempz lotion and can't use any other brand.
You might find that changing your shampoo and conditioner and soap alone might decrease headaches, fatigue, and body aches. Once I switched to natural hair and skincare, I had fewer headaches after applying the products.
Mood swings/Overstimulation
Feelings of heightened irritation at random times, increased stress and confusion, depression, and anxiety that's out of the normal range can definitely be caused by Lyme disease as well.
Since Lyme disease can cause hormone imbalance and nervous system problems as it becomes chronic, a person with Lyme has a compromised mood sometimes due to this. Completing tasks and responsibilities that you used to be able to do can become harder now, so it's important to remember to give yourself grace and patience as you're going through a hard time.
When Lyme started to show itself through multiple symptoms, I was in middle school, and I remember the sixth grade and the seventh grade being completely different from each other. Going to class and talking to people alone became a lot harder, and heightened anxiety and overstimulation happened daily for me in the seventh grade.
This might be one of the hardest symptoms to work, but the best thing you can do for this symptom is to live a low-stress schedule as much as possible, because running crazy and never allowing the adequate amount of rest for your body is one of the main reasons why these symptoms flare up. For you, that might mean more sleep, working to have slower mornings if possible, reducing heavy lifting, and taking more naps.
Everyone is different when it comes to their symptoms, but when my Lyme was at its worst, I had to take naps and rest daily, and my mornings had to be slower than average or else it would flare up more symptoms.
Some additional tips for this are reducing sugar and gluten, cutting caffeine out of your diet, and drinking enough water every day. As a Christian, my biggest help was praying to God for true peace of mind no matter what situation I was in.
Not feeling like "yourself"
Not feeling comfortable, confident, or rested in your own skin could very well be coming from Lyme disease. Lyme disease isn't just a physical disease but affects the mental health of a person.
If you feel like walking into a room with lots of people diverts your vision to the ground or scattering across the room without pause, or talking to anyone around you, even including family and friends, sends a brain fog and pressure on your body, Lyme disease could definitely be the cause of this.
I experienced brain fogs, anxiety, and general uncomfortableness a lot during my journey with chronic Lyme, and while this took years to notice beginning, it is very hard to control.
I would experience frequent zoning out periods, dissociating randomly in conversations or in the middle of a movie, and feelings of wanting to isolate during these flare ups.
The only thing that would help me with this terrible symptom is praying to God and meditating on his word. This symptom is just as much mental as it is physical, so taking supplements would help me in the long run, but the biggest help was talking to God for peace.
(If you're not a Christian, unaware about Christianity, or have any questions, you can click the link right here to find out more!)
Some medications that could help you in this situation include vitamins and anti-inflammatory supplements that strengthen your body against this symptom are:
Zinc
Colloidal silver (Make sure you consult your doctor beforehand about this medication and be careful with doses!)
Yeast (Test for allergies with yeast before taking)
Vitamin E
Along with taking supplements, I would avoid inflammatory foods for Lyme like meat, gluten, and excessive amounts of dairy. Lowering your sugar intake as well can make a huge difference in beating this symptom.
I hope that this information on Lyme disease helps you today! If you have any questions, feel free to comment. ❤︎
"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,..." - Psalm 103: 2-3
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